The new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton, exchanged vows at London's Westminster Abbey. The lavish wedding came at a time of austerity in Britain. Kirshan Guru-Murthy of Independent Television News reports on the ceremony and its impact in Britain.

Read the Full Transcript

MARGARET WARNER:

Tens of millions of people around the world watched today's royal wedding in London, which comes at a time of economic austerity in Britain.

We begin our look at it with Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Independent Television News.

KRISHNAN GURU-MURTHY:

"Shall we?" he said.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

KRISHNAN GURU-MURTHY:

And with that, the most anticipated moment of the most watched event ever, fleeting, and like the best of shows, leaving the audience wanting more.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

KRISHNAN GURU-MURTHY:

As the princes left Clarence House for the Abbey this morning, the scale of the crowds must have shocked even their expectations. A million people had come to watch, lining the routes with obvious genuine happiness.

In the Abbey, the guests had been gathering for two hours already, the prime minister and his deputy still talking about what to wear, it seems, the Beckhams, unaccustomed perhaps to being on the back rows, Rowan Atkinson with a Mr. Bean yawn.

The ladies in the bright colors this season demands, small hats in large numbers, perhaps mindful of those sitting behind them. In an era of celebrity worship even the seats in the Abbey were arranged facing, not the alter, but the aisle, like a fashion runway.

A hint of nerves perhaps, as they arrived. William in the uniform of a colonel in the Irish Guards. Inside, much more relaxed and time for a chat with his mother's side of the family, seated behind the Middletons in the Abbey. But even the queen caught the romance, wearing a diamond broach called the True Lovers Knot.

Leaving the Goring Hotel with her father through a protective awning, Kate Middleton was keeping the secrets of the dress largely intact. Designed by Sarah Burton from Alexander McQueen, we could see lace. A hint of Grace Kelly perhaps?

Despite a clutch of tiny bridesmaids, it was Pippa Middleton in another dress by the same designer who almost stole the show.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

KRISHNAN GURU-MURTHY:

When she arrived, none of the crumpled dress problems Diana suffered in 1981; a much shorter train, too.

It was Harry who saw her first, prompting William to steal a glimpse and when she reached him, a quiet word. "You're beautiful," he seems to say, before joking with Michael Middleton about the wedding being just a small family affair.

I pronounce that they be man and wife together in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

KRISHNAN GURU-MURTHY:

The cheers outside rang all the way into the Abbey, then some words of advice from the bishop of London.

DR. RICHARD CHARTRES, lord bishop of London: Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.

KRISHNAN GURU-MURTHY:

Registers signed in private and so emerged the newly styled duke and duchess of Cambridge, or Prince and Princess William, and she will also be known.

"So happy," she says, as they head back to Buckingham Palace in the open carriage, the 1902 State Landau, used often by the queen and for the marriage of William's parents. This was the view that those who camped for days had waited for.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

KRISHNAN GURU-MURTHY:

In a sort of friendly version of kettling used at demos, the police then kept those on the Mall pinned in, while those at the top towards Trafalgar Square were allowed to walk down towards the palace.

But in a suddenly un-British approach to queuing, many started breaking through the police lines, desperate not the miss their view of the kiss.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

KRISHNAN GURU-MURTHY:

And there you have the moment they had all come for: the kiss. This new tradition that you imagine has been going for hundreds of years, that was actually only invented by William's parents, Charles and Diana.

CROWD:

Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!

KRISHNAN GURU-MURTHY:

And then, in answer to the demands for an encore, their own twist to this ritual, another kiss, but all of it much for 3-year-old bridesmaid Grace Van Cutsem.

What do you think today means for the monarchy?

WOMAN:

Oh, fabulous, absolutely fabulous.

KRISHNAN GURU-MURTHY:

Future — future secure?

WOMAN:

Yes, I'm certain of it.

KRISHNAN GURU-MURTHY:

And what do you think today has meant for the monarchy?

MAN:

A good deal.

MAN:

A lot.

MAN:

I think it's very positive. I think it's very positive for the monarchy.

The flypast was led by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, followed by the same Typhoons and Tornadoes in action over Libya right now.

After lunch, to the delight to the crowds, a short ride to Clarence House in Prince Charles' Aston Martin. That's the one converted to run on English wine, more than anything else today, the moment that sets the informal, human tone they'd like to project, and another chance to suggest they are a bit like the rest of us.

If you need any more proof of how well it went, back at the army, the clergy were literally doing cartwheels, the verger, Ben Sheward, doing what so many have imagined, but never dared before.